Parents often want considerable originality or uniqueness for their children’s name. While some parents look for a rare name, others opt for specialized spelling, and many find straight up bizarre names. There is no perfect explanation for every parent’s choice regarding the namesake of their kids, whether it be popular culture references, some sort of deeper meaning, or just liking the way it sounds.

What I can speak to is the effect having an unusual name has on the kid growing up.

My name is Rayanna. It’s not too obscure or strange, but it definitely is not a name that you’d see in math word problems either. I’ve never met another "Rayanna" in my eighteen years of life, but if I google it, I know others exist. I’ve had enough love and hate for my given name that I’ve come to accept it, but it took some time.

Pronunciation

It gets pretty annoying having to remind people over and over of the pronunciation of your name. I went to school in the same town from elementary school to high school. People that I had known and had class with since kindergarten were still mispronouncing it throughout my senior year.

Spelling

It seems like everyone finds new ways to spell my name wrong when they write it the first few times. Extra letters or incorrect vowels. People will write checks made out to names that are clearly not mine. In my first job, my boss had my name tag made with incorrect spelling. I don’t even bother trying to correct the baristas at Starbucks anymore.

Trinkets in stores

Never in my life have I seen my name on a key chain, Christmas ornament, or refrigerator magnet. I have never found a Coca-Cola can or bottle with my name pre-written on it. Countless of times my friends were able to find souvenirs matching their names while I bought another generic t-shirt or hat to commemorate the trip.

Less confusion

Because some names are so common, there could be several people in a class, club or team with the same name. If you say the name “Caitlynn” to my cheerleading team, about five different people will respond, but if you call my name, it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll be the only person in the vicinity with that name. This can be good because my unusual name isn’t going to be confused with anyone else’s.

Usernames

Since my name is relatively rare, I have good luck finding usernames that are available. While my friends will have to find extreme variations of letters, numbers, and underscores in their name like “_emxly_xx_” or “mike40578,” I often have the luxury of just writing my first name or extremely simple variations of it.

Identity

Eventually, I learned to love my name for it’s originality; having a name that not many others do is actually kind of cool. I’m the only person in my area with my name, and this gives me a sense of individuality. Despite the awful pronunciations and spellings, my name is a part of me and I wouldn’t change it.